SCAFFOLDING surrounding Cardigan’s Market Hall building makes the iconic building look “a complete eyesore” and is having a detrimental effect on the town and businesses.

That is the view of one resident who has contacted the Tivyside to voice their concerns that the scaffolding has now been in place for more than a year and looks set to be there as the new holiday season fast approaches.

“It just makes the centre of town look a complete eyesore. It seems ridiculous to have taken this long and I cannot understand why. I can’t even remember seeing anyone working on the scaffolding,” said the resident.

Work is being carried out to repair the roof at the Grade II listed building, which has been described as “Cardigan’s jewel in the crown” by Ceredigion County Council, but has been beset by delays.

And those delays are having an impact on traders in the building and Menter Aberteifi, which is responsible for the day-to-day running of the Market Hall.

“We have been very frustrated by the delays. We keep being told that it will be coming down in the next few weeks, then it is a few more weeks after that,” said Julian Beynon-Lewis of Menter Aberteifi.

“We have lost quite a few stall holders in the upper level and that means we are losing income and it is hurting us. It is also far from ideal for the stall holders who are trying to run their businesses.

“It just seems to be going on and on and we are into Easter at the end of the month.”

Cardigan Traders chairman Martin Radley said: “For visitors coming to the town and parking up, the first thing they say is all that scaffolding on what should be a beautiful building.

“I agree, it is an eyesore and it’s not good enough. We are trying to encourage tourists, we have just launched the town app and all that scaffolding is not a great welcome to Cardigan.”

A spokesman for Ceredigion County Council said: “The initial scope of repair works to Cardigan Market Hall were planned to be completed in April 2017.

“However as a result of the works undertaken, additional major structural defects became apparent which required remedial works to be carried out in order to stabilise the structure.

“These additional structural works required Listed Building Consent approval from CADW as Cardigan Market Hall is a Grade 2 listed structure. This process resulted in an unexpected delay whilst the necessary drawings, structural details and proposals were forwarded to CADW for their approval prior to any further works being carried out.

“As a result of this unfortunate delay and the additional structural works required over and above the initial scope of the work, the time frame for completion has had to be extended in order to carry out the required works.

“The scaffolding has had to remain in place in to ensure that the contractor has safe access to the roof to carry out the necessary repair work and it is hoped that the majority of this scaffolding will be removed in the coming weeks.

“The traders within the Market Hall have been kept informed at all opportunities by, both the Market Hall management and Ceredigion County Council, and all parties have worked in conjunction in order to ensure that the Market Hall is open to the public at all times.”